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We had our first crack at incubating and hatching quail eggs this fall! I just bought one of the cheap styrofoam incubators (it was $50 at TSC) and ordered the quail egg rotators off of Amazon ($50). I bought some quail eggs from a man up North so that I could vary the bloodlines. Quail take 18 days from set to hatch, with lock down at day 15. They are jumbo Coturnix and it was said to keep them around 99.9 to 100.5 degrees. We only had 7 hatch out of 18, but not bad for our first go. One more step to self sufficiency! Little by little we are learning and growing, taking small steps at a time! Have a great weekend everyone! 🐣

This summer around the homestead has been full of victories in the garden. Our peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, spaghetti squash, pickling cucumber, celery and straw/black/rasp berries all had a great year! Lots of drying canning and freezing going on in this house hold.

I started all my flowers from seed this year, and they were amazing. I had marigolds, petunias and zinnias. I really think they help to bring the pollinators in when you inter crop them into your veggie garden.

Some of the sad news from this summer… First we had several quail die from and unknown illness 😦 and then a predator killed 5 more. I know have to lock them up at night, I always used to let them access their run at night, but I can no longer do that. We have eggs in the incubator as I type this so hopefully we will have replenished birds soon. Our neighbour also called the town to tell on us for having chickens (we only had 2 🙄) so we ended up having to bring them back to the farm we purchased them at. My town only enforces the bylaw on chickens if someone complains. She literally said nothing for 2 years, her husband passed away, and almost immediately called the town after that. I could tell the bylaw officer felt bad, he said you have a beautiful yard and a nice coop, and these animals are well tended, but they have to act on complaints. Very unfortunate, but I will be fighting to get the bylaw changed. The neighbouring town bylaw allows for 3 hens, so I’m hoping to make that change! Thanks for stopping in, I hope you all are enjoying your summer! 🐝🦋🌱🌸🌻🌼🌞⭐️🌈

We have to start preparing for the gardens! The plan for this year was to start my seeds in the windowsill, however, as soon as the weather brightens up a bit I will be constructing a 10×12 ft greenhouse!!! I am so excited! Every year we expand little by little, so we don’t have to borrow any money to do it. We also expand slowly as to not overwhelm ourselves either. Our 1/6th of an acre has such potential to feed our family and build skills and relationships. My children will grow up knowing where food comes from, and that is a foreign notion these days. Even if you have a small suburban lot or a balcony on the side of an apartment building, you can grow food! Teach your children to cultivate the earth! I promise you will never regret it. Once you harvest your first crops you will be hooked!

The Chickens and quails are laying like crazy right now! So even though it doesn’t feel like spring in Ontario yet, it is 🙂

Yesterday my family went out and harvested most of the remaining carrots and some of the cabbage that was ready to pick! We got quite the haul! Yesterday was a true testament to the importance of letting your kids play outside and including them in homesteading chores:Sunday morning was brutal! My 4 year old and three year old were fighting all morning. Arguing over toys, books, anything! They were yelling at each other, tattling etc. I was trying to get some house work done but I thought I better get them outside and playing, maybe that would decrease the tension. I brought them outside, gave them their gardening gloves and away we went. For 2 full hours they did not argue one time. They were laughing together, helping me pick and wash carrots! They gathered all the carrot stems up and fed the bunnies, chickens and quail. It was like a peace and calming washed over the whole family. Not that a homesteading life will always be rainbows and butterflies, but I believe that afternoon was a true testament to the importance of giving children age appropriate tasks and responsibilities. This is the type of ‘education’ they will never receive in school. It is one that generations past always gifted their children. We as a society have to get back to teaching our own kids how to garden, cook, forage, animal husbandry etc. If we don’t do it no one will, can you imagine a society where no one knew how to do any of these things? It’s a scary thought.

Back to the carrots and cabbbage…

Most of the carrots I peeled, chopped, blanched for 3 minutes and then froze them in ziplock baggies for use in a nice fall time soup!

The rest I left dirty, unpeeled, in a brown paper bag in the fridge for use later this week. I am going to cook them with a nice pork roast.
The cabbages I cut into quarters and blanched for a few minutes and they went into the freezer as well!
Thanks for stopping in today!

Today I am just going to give a few pictures of the raised bed gardens I built last summer, that are now thriving this summer! Raised beds are hard work to start, you have to purchase the wood and build them (which is pricey), then you have to buy dirt or empty your compost bin, which is a lot of shovelling and wheelbarrow work! However, once you are done the benefits are amazing!!! It has been over a month since I planted all the vegetables and I have only pulled a few weeds! It’s amazing! My front garden which is not a raised bed, I have to weed almost daily

Thriving so far!

I purchased 2×10 boards (not pressure treated), 3″ screws, and 6 yards of dirt/manure combo from my local gardening store. I built them (with the help of my Dad!) and filled the bottom with cardboard and hay, this helps kills the grass and prevents weeds. I then filled them with dirt (which was back breaking I must say ).Adding paper and hay

Adding the dirt = backbreaking work!

To add some calcium I ground up dried chicken eggs shells, and sprinkled it in and turned the dirt over. I also added bunny manure from my bun-buns Loopsey and Scooter. That is their only contribution to the homestead, their poop! AKA bunny balls. One of the best manures to add to a garden, it does not have to be composted first! Bonus! That is all for today! Next post I will get into transplanting and such! 😄

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